To browse items by category, scroll to bottom of page.
Contact information: Round Table Books, LLC
572-B Lincoln Ave., Winnetka, Illinois, 60093, United States
Phone: (847) 386-7156 Fax: (312) 577-0897
Email: arthur@roundtablebooks.com
Website URL:
http://www.roundtablebooks.com/
Round Table Books specializes in Rare, Antiquarian and Collectible Books, particularly in the areas of History, Art, Arthurian History and Literature, Napoleonic Biography and History, Poetry, and illustrated editions of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. We gladly accept consignments, both of individual books and entire libraries. All of our books are described accurately, packed carefully and shipped promptly. We offer superior customer service. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. Any book may be returned for any reason for a full refund.
|
Featured Item
|
Buy Now
US$20,000.00
|
Item number:
1423.
Khayyam, Omar
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, The Astronomer-Poet of Persia Rendered into English Verse by Edward FitzGerald with an Accompaniment of Drawings by Elihu Vedder
Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, Boston, 1884. Very Good with no dust jacket. First Edition Thus. Hard Cover First, Limited Edition of 100 copies, of which this is No. 22, signed by Vedder, with ornamental title page & 56 magnificent full-page Illustrations. Printed at the Riverside Press, Cambridge, MA. Brown flat-weave cloth over beveled boards; front cover with gilt lettering, dark brown-stamped ruled borders, symbolist design of vase, vine, swirl & stars, rear cover without decoration; spine with gilt lettering & dark brown-stamped ruled borders & ornaments; signed in gilt & dark brown-stamp on front cover, lower right 'V.' ; slate coated endpapers; TEG, others untrimmed. Elephant Folio. Signed by Vedder on Limitation Page. In the ten months from May 1883 to March 1884, Elihu Vedder (1836-1923) completed a series of 54 drawings in pencil, ink, chalk, & watercolor to accompany this 1884 edition of the Rubaiyat. All of these original drawings, which were proclaimed a masterwork of American art, were included in a special exhibition of "Elihu Vedder's Drawings for the Rubaiyat" at the National Museum of American Art in 1998. The exhibition also included two first edition printings of this Rubaiyat with Vedder's "accompaniments." First translated from Persian to English in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald, editions of Khayyam's Rubaiyat have since appeared in numerous forms and languages, the best loved, best known, and most elaborate being this 1884 edition illustrated & designed by Vedder. Vedder was one of the first artists of his generation to train in Paris where he developed his Academic style and focused on what would become his favored subject: the classically proportioned female nude. Vedder also designed the book's cloth-bound cover, lining papers and eccentric hand-drawn letters. A prevalent device is his "cosmic swirl, " which, according to Vedder, represented the "gradual concentration of elements that combined to form life; the sudden pause through the reverse of the movement which marks the instant of life; & then the gradual, ever-widening dispersion again of those elements into space. " Vedder's edition was an instant success, selling out only six days after its debut in Boston on November 8, 1884. With the Rubaiyat, Vedder set the standard for artist-designed books in America and England. Critics rushed to acclaim it as a masterwork. Vedder was born in New York in 1836. He spent several years in Florence and Rome and returned to New York in 1861, where he remained five years. There he made sketches for Vanity Fair. He finally settled in Rome in 1867. His major works include: Five panels in the Library of Congress in Washington & one in Bowdoin College; "The Pleiades" and "African Sentinel, " Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; "The Keeper of the Threshold, " Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; "The Lair of the Sea Serpent, " "Lazarus." "The Sphinx, " Boston Museum of Fine Arts; "Storm in Umbria, " Art Institute of Chicago; Brooklyn Institute Museum; Rhode Island School of Design. His "Gree
|
|
Appr.:
|
AUD 18,570.10
|
CAD 19,880.72
|
EUR 15,197.57
|
GBP 12,642.23
|
JPY 1,538,461.54
|
MXN 222,222.22
|
ZAR 150,375.94
|
|
|
Featured Item
|
Buy Now
US$4,495.00
|
Item number:
1723.
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus
PHILOSOPHI STOICORUM OMNIUM ACUTISSIMI OPERA QUAE EXTANT OMNIA, COELII SECUNDI CURIONIS UIGILANTISSIMA CURA CASTIGATA, & IN NOUAM PRORSUS FACIEM, NIMIRUM PROPRIAM & SUAM, MUTATA: quorum lectio non modo ad bene dicendum,
Publisher: Ioannem Hervagium et Bernardum Brandun, Basel, 1557. Very Good with no dust jacket. Vellum Hardcover. Bound in contemporary vellum boards. 4to (approx 9 x 12.5"). (xvi), 761, (15 index) pp. IN LATIN. Edgewear, some very old tape repairs to boards. Titles in ink in a contemporary hand. On upper board ("L. Annaei Senecae | Opera omnia | (Basileae 1557) ") and spine ("L. Annaei Senecae Opumn") Very old damp-stain on rear board not affecting text block. Very light foxing throughout. Pages quite supple. One line of text written and then crossed out on title page. VERY GOOD. This is an extremely rare copy of the complete works of Seneca printed in Basel in 1557 by Johannem Hervagium and Bernardum Brandun. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC-AD 65) was a Roman philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. Tacitus gives an account of the suicide of Seneca in his book, the Annals, in Book XV, Chapter/Number 60 through 64. Works attributed to Seneca include a satire, a meteorological essay, philosophical essays, 124 letters dealing with moral issues, and nine tragedies. Seneca's brand of Stoic philosophy emphasized practical steps by which the reader might confront life's problems. Johannem Hervagium (Johannes Hervagius) was Swiss publisher active in the period approximately 1528 through 1561, who published authoritative texts of many classical authors. EXTREMELY RARE. ; 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall
|
|
Appr.:
|
AUD 4,173.63
|
CAD 4,468.19
|
EUR 3,415.65
|
GBP 2,841.34
|
JPY 345,769.23
|
MXN 49,944.44
|
ZAR 33,796.99
|
|
|
Featured Item
|
Buy Now
US$5,500.00
|
Item number:
5489.
Blackstone, William
COMMENTARIES ON THE LAWS OF ENGLAND (FOUR VOLUMES)
Publisher: The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1769. Very Good with no dust jacket. First Edition. Hard Cover Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1766-1769. 4to (approx 8.25 x 10.5"). Four volumes: (iv), iv, 485, (i); (viii), 520, xix; viii, 455, xxvii; viii, 436, vii, (40) pp. Half calf over marbled boards, spines in six compartments separated by gilt borders, gilt titles and decoration on red and black labels in two compartments, volume numbers, gilt, in gilt borders in one compartment. Marbled endpapers. Illustrated with two copperplate tables, Table of Consanguinity and fold-out Table of Descents in Volume Two. MIXED FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS IN MATCHING BINDINGS. Volumes One and Two are Second Editions, Volumes Three and Four are First Editions. All volumes are in excellent condition. The front hinges are starting in volumes one and two. A former owner's name (John Black) is neatly written on each title page. The boards are all very lightly bumped. The hinges in volumes one and two have been professionally reinforced (c. 1890?). Very light, mild foxing throughout. Both Tables are in excellent condition. VERY GOOD. "Blackstone's great work on the laws of England is the extreme example of justification of an existing state of affairs by virtue of its history. Until the Commentaries, the ordinary Englishman had viewed the law as a vast, unintelligible and unfriendly machine. Blackstone's great achievement was to popularize the law and the traditions which had influenced its formation. He takes a delight in describing and defending as the essence of the constitution the often anomalous complexities which had grown into the laws of England over the centuries. But he achieves the astonishing feat of communicating this delight, and this is due to a style which is itself always lucid and graceful."; 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall
|
|
Appr.:
|
AUD 5,106.78
|
CAD 5,467.20
|
EUR 4,179.33
|
GBP 3,476.61
|
JPY 423,076.92
|
MXN 61,111.11
|
ZAR 41,353.38
|
|
|
Featured Item
|
Buy Now
US$1,750.00
|
Item number:
1788.
Froissart, Jean; Henry Noel Humphries
Illuminated Illustrations of Froissart: Selected from the Mss. in the British Museum and the Bibliotheque Royale and Other Sources (Two Volumes in One Binding)
Publisher: William Smith, London, 1845. Very Good with no dust jacket. First Edition. Hard Cover An extremely handsome custom-bound volume in half red morocco over marbled boards. Titles, gilt, in one of six compartments separated by raised bands, TEG. 4to. This exquisitely-crafted book presents a collection of 72 hand-colored lithographs by Henry Noel Humphreys, based on Jean Froissart medieval manuscripts. Each plate is protected by a tissue guard and has a leaf of text by Humphreys describing the historical scene depicted. The illustrations are accented in gold. There are two hand-colored lithographic title pages, and two printed ones. Volume One (published in 1844) is based on Froissart's Chronicles manuscripts in the B. M. Harlein Collection in the British Museum. Volume Two (published in 1845) is based on a Froissart's Chronicles manuscript in the Bibliotheque Royale, Paris. The plates, illuminated miniatures, illustrations and text are in almost as new condition. Complete as issued, with no missing pages or plates. All pages are securely bound, fresh, and clean, with no foxing, damp stains or tears. Gift inscription of ffep: ("Miss Julia R. Lane with the congratulations of her friend. B. H. Hall. Troy, New York, October 8th, 1856"). Front interior hinge, at endpapers, has a small section that has been glue repaired. Cover has some rubbing to edges and sides. Book in very nice condition throughout. A magnificent volume. VERY GOOD. A masterwork of Victorian (and medieval) illustration. The artist, Henry Noel Humphreys (1810-1879) was one of the most popular illustrators of the Victorian era, and one of the greatest Nineteenth Century illuminators. In this volume, Humphreys presents his version of 72 illustrations from 15th century manuscripts of The Chronicles by Jean Froissart. Froissart (c. 1337-c. 1404) was a French priest and poet, primarily remembered for his Chronicles, an historical record of the 14th century and an unprecedented portrait of medieval life. His Chronicles covered the Hundred Year's War (from 1325 to 1400) and is the single most important source for the history of that period. ; Hand-painted; 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall
|
|
Appr.:
|
AUD 1,624.88
|
CAD 1,739.56
|
EUR 1,329.79
|
GBP 1,106.19
|
JPY 134,615.38
|
MXN 19,444.44
|
ZAR 13,157.89
|
|
|
Featured Item
|
Buy Now
US$3,000.00
|
Item number:
549.
Scott, Sir Walter
THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE, WITH A PRELIMINARY VIEW OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (Nine Volumes, Complete)
Publisher: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green; Cadell & Co., London and Edinburgh, 1827. Near Fine with no dust jacket. First Edition. Hard Cover First Edition. Printed by Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, London; and Cadell & Co., Edinburgh, 1827. The nine volumes are bound in original half calf, gilt lettering on red labels on spines, spines in seven compartments separated by double gilt rules, gilt embossed arms of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, which, it appears, originally bound the volumes, on each spine. [Caplan 98]. 8vo. Occasional minor foxing, end papers browning, otherwise internally near fine. The rear board of Volume IX (only) has been professionally repaired, all labels and exterior surfaces have been professionally refurbished. NEAR FINE.Scott visited France in 1826 to collect material for this biography, which was published in these nine volumes in 1827. Scott was a novelist and poet, as well as the author of the first major life of Napoleon, and the first to be allowed to consult the Hudson Lowe Papers, which have since become a staple of historians of the captivity. Sir Walter also visited Paris and interviewed Napoleon's colleagues. The Duke of Wellington assisted him with his account of the Russian campaign. The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte finally appeared in 1827 - in these nine volumes. It represented a milestone in the development of British attitudes toward Napoleon. Here for the first time, only six years after his death, but more importantly over a decade after his final battle, we have a Napoleon who is neither romantic hero nor total villain. This balanced approach was once a mainstay of much British historiography and public discourse. Thus although ultimately very critical of Napoleon, and a defense of the British Government in its long struggle against him and the French Revolution, "The Life" was nevertheless far more balanced than some Whigs had expected, and certainly far too even handed for many Tories, for whom Napoleon would always remain the "Corsican Ogre". It also upset Sir Hudson Lowe, whose esteem was at a level befitting his name, and still vainly sought the colonial governorship which he felt he had been promised and certainly deserved. He could not however find anything in "The Life" that would give him any chance of a successful court case. Gaspard Gourgaud was also displeased about his treatment. His former colleagues on St Helena buried their once considerable differences and came to his defense. Excitable as ever, Gourgaud was all for challenging Scott to a duel, but the latter's location in Edinburgh made that rather impractical. Napoleon's brother, Louis Bonaparte was also displeased and wrote a defense of his brother. An attractive and important set.; Fine Binding; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
|
|
Appr.:
|
AUD 2,785.52
|
CAD 2,982.11
|
EUR 2,279.64
|
GBP 1,896.33
|
JPY 230,769.23
|
MXN 33,333.33
|
ZAR 22,556.39
|
|
Terms of Sale:
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED - Any book may be returned in the same condition within 30 days of receipt for a full refund.
|
